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Gaza public workers: Hamas not paying salaries

GAZA CITY – Palestinian civil servants in the Gaza Strip Monday are calling on the Hamas government to pay them their full salaries, a rare expression of discontent in the territory.

The labor union of government employees said in a press conference that Hamas has been paying partial salaries to its 46,000 workers over the past four months.

Hamas has suffered financial woes following Egypt’s closure of smuggling tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border in recent months. Hamas used to collect taxes from tunnel operators. Israel and Egypt have restricted Gaza’s economy and borders since the Islamic militant group took over the territory in 2007.

Ehab al-Nahal, chairman of the Gaza public sector employees union, said the union understood the pressures that Hamas faces but that its workers are struggling to get by.